C—2a

One case of spontaneous heating occurred in the mine, the area being sealed off and subsequently flooded with water. The coal was of good quality with a thickness varying from 9 ft. to 24 ft. Plant.—All plant operated satisfactorily and the engineering staff efficiently attended to repairs and maintenance. . Black Diamond Opencast Coal-winning.—Opencast operations were continued throughout the year. The gross output for the year was 35,769 tons 2 cwt., all of which was available for disposal, an increase of 21,203 tons by opencasting when compared with the output for the previous year. The following statement shows details of coal disposed of during the year : Ist April, 1948 — Tons cwt. qr. Tons cwt. qr. Stocks in yard Add net output for year .. 35,769 2 0 31st March, 1949 — Less stocks in yard Total disposed of .. .. 35,769 2 0 Disposals Tons cwt. qr. Railed .. • • • • • • 30,495 9 0 Local and mine sales .. - - 5,232 7 0 Workmen and free issues .. . . 41 6 0 35,769 2 0 The gross output for the colliery since taken over by the State on 9th April, 1947, has totalled 50,823 tons 12 cwt. Bays Worked.—The Black Diamond Opencast worked 192 days out of a possible 242 ordinary working-days. In addition, the opencast worked 16 Saturdays and 2 statutory holidays, making the total days worked 210. The difference between the days worked and the possible number of ordinary working-days is accounted for as follows : 1 dav, union meeting ; 1 day, funeral of ex-member of Miners' Union ; 3 days, cleaning out a sunken pillar ; 1 day, cleaning up pit; 10 days, wet weather ; 34 days, stripping. Employees. —The average number of men employed at the opencast was 20. Daily Output.—The average daily output was 186 tons 6 cwt. Workings. —Coal-production was maintained throughout the year except on occasions of exceptionally wet weather until March, when production ceased temporarily to allow further stripping to be carried out. . During the year 387,600 cubic yards of overburden were stripped, making a total of 595,995 cubic yards stripped since the commencement of opencasting. From the spoil dumps 21 tons 10 cwt. of coal was recovered by hand loading. The coal has been of good quality throughout with a high percentage of screening. Plant.—The following plant units were operated in stripping and coal-winning operations • two Diesel shovels of § cubic yard and f cubic yard capacity respectively ; four tractors and bulldozers ; three tournapulls of 12 cubic yards capacity ; four 3-ton trucks; tne Diesel grader. . All plant was maintained in good order and condition throughout the year.

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